Rape capital vis-a-vis safer place for women : Continuing the rape stories
- Sangai Express Editorial :: August 26, 2013 -

Rape capital of India. Safer place for women.

Two descriptions that depict the real positions of women in a country, which worships a number of Goddesses and has had one lady Prime Minister and presently a lady, who is deemed to be one of the most influential and powerful personalities in the world, in the person of Sonia Gandhi.

The irony runs deep indeed. Psychologists, psychiatrists, social scientists, especially those whose area of study is closely associated with human behaviour have given interpretations galore, ranging from the display of crude physical power that men exercise over women, the understanding of the social transformation in which women are increasingly entering into domain hitherto thought to be the sole prerogatives of the male species but yet there is no definite scientific answer as to why some men rape.

Take note of the point that in almost all the studies undertaken by professionals in trying to understand the trend of rape, it is not the male libido that has been the focus of attention.

A point from which a conclusion may be made that rape is not as much as about fulfilling one's carnal desire, but a brutal display of physical and psychological dominance over the fairer sex.

Coming back to the terms, rape capital and safer place for women, and a point emerges in the sense that no place is safe for women.

Two terms coined under the reality that is India today, or terms coined under the compulsion of comparison ?

While this comparison may be inevitable to profile a place, vis-a-vis the safety of women, sometimes it can be misleading, a fact already hammered home by the recent day light gang rape of a young photo journalist at Mumbai, a place hitherto deemed to be a safer place for women.

An incident which has made the term 'safer place for women' redundant.

An ideal question would be 'why not make all places safe for women, instead of safer' ?

A far fetched idea it would certainly be, but something drastic needs to be done if the demented minds roaming the streets of India, Manipur included prominently, are to be reined in.

Tough legislations have already been sounded, with the Justice Verma Committee submitting its recommendations to the Government, after the infamous gang rape of a young para-medic student in Delhi last year.

That the young girl died told the brutality of the act and it awoke the consciousness of the people across the country.

But have things moved on for the better is the question that comes to mind.

Shortly after the Mumbai gang rape of the photo journalist, came the news of another woman police constable being gang raped at Jharkhand by suspected dacoits.

Elsewhere there have been many a story of women being raped and the recent story penned by a young American student while she was on tour to India went a long way in exposing the mindset of the Indian male.

Manipur is no better off with stories of rapes and molestation continuously hitting the pages of the Imphal based newspapers. There is however a discernible difference that is palpable.

While Mumbai police cracked the whip and succeeded in rounding up all the accused in the gang rape of the woman at Mumbai, no headways have been made in the rape case of a physically challenged girl from Thangmeiband some time back.

The accused in this case is still at large, despite the fact that his identity, that means his name, his addresses and other details have come out in the public domain.

Last heard, the police is said to be contemplating on declaring the accused an absconder.

Why has it taken so long for the police to declare the accused an absconder and splash his pictures in the media.

Does not need a genius to know that such a step would be that easier to track him down and bring him to justice.

The rape stories will continue.

There will be demented minds out there on the streets ably aided by a law enforcing agency which is known more for dragging its feet.

This is about Manipur and this is what is frightening.